Week 10: vs. St. Louis (2-6)Week 11: at New England (5-3)
Week 12: at Tennessee (8-0)
Week 13: vs. Denver (5-4)
Week 14: at San Francisco (2-6)
Week 15: vs. Buffalo (5-3)
Week 16: at Seattle (2-6)
Week 17: vs. Miami (4-4)
It should be an easy schedule - those teams are a combined 33-32 - not tremendously intimidating. But taken one-by-one - the Jets have a tough road to go.
The 3 NFC West games remaining are all against teams that are 2-6 - but St. Louis has been playing well, and will give the Jets a run for their money on Sunday (though without Steven Jackson the Jets will probably win). The other two games are very winnable - but they come with 2 west coast trips in three weeks, with a tough game against Buffalo in between. So that's not great timing.
Of course, there are three division games left, with a tough one at New England starting it off on Thursday night. The plus side is that the Buffalo and Miami games are home games - but all three are games that could go either way. The Jets had better hope they have some kind of playoff berth wrapped up by the final game of the season - I don't like the idea of Miami coming to town in the last week led by Chad Pennington, looking to bump the Jets out of a playoff situation.
Then there are the final two AFC games against non-division opponents. There's the Titans, who will be 8-2 at worst, 10-0 at best, when the Jets play them in two weeks. And the Broncos, who showed Thursday night just how dangerous they could be - even if they go into the fourth quarter trailing.
All of the teams the Jets have left to play have given them fits in the past. So as much as you might read about a 'favorable' Jets schedule the rest of the way (SportsIllustrated mentioned it in this week's issue) - I beg to differ. And this comes from someone who's usually overly optimistic.
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